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In France, recent research on “shrinking cities” has outlined various local public policies that have been implemented in order to improve the attractiveness of these urban areas. However, these studies focus little on the ecological transition in this urban regeneration. In fact, this article aims to outline potential contributions and impacts of alternative strategies of local resources management by firms. In order to measure these impacts, we have contextualized an urban shrinkage that is based both on the vast current of thought on urban utopias, and on the ecological transition. In addition, for empirical analysis, we have used data from the city of Dunkirk (France), where various industrial ecology projects have been implemented for many years. With both these approaches, this paper demonstrates how transition can emerge as an alternative policy of urban development.